For better and brighter Andhra Pradesh

Review of Baahubali (2015)

Baahubali, the movie title was uneasy for me in the beginning. It roughly translates to “The unbeatable man in strength”.

After seeing the movie, I will now admit that I was wrong. I mistook strength to be mere physical. Watch this magnum opus, you will find many such silly assumptions and stereotypes busted into thin air. (Btw thank you dad; First day, First show.)

Yes, I was fed with a lot of negative feedback about the unreasonable expectations from a typical Telugu movie, the market return probability, the managerial tricks team had to use to sustain the hype over 3 years; Not to mention the ticket procurement hiatus, the rift with the theatre-folks with the Government mandate of fixed ticket price.

But alas, the moment titles rolled on, Boom. I was in Mahishmati. No longer in the cubicle that is that hall. I was out there, watching the story unfolding, like a kid cheerfully opening his Cadbury Chocolate.

Verdict: Yummy !

Review:

I intend not to spill the story, because the movie is a lot beyond that. The moment you see the kid trying to climb those magnificent mountains, you know there is something called Curiosity. I bet the director had barrels of it. Because, it’s his unflinching desire to show something beyond the obvious anticipations that made him weave such a wonderful fantasy world. Trust me; I had my critical mode on throughout the film, but, wait. The movie didn’t seem like a projection of a story with some music and visuals decorating it. It is a grey zone of umpteen interpretations; I was drawn to it naturally. A hero, masked in mediocrity, was dramatically told of his royal lineage, the unfinished tasks and then, he acts accordingly with his gutsy intuition. Simple line, but simple output? NO.

Those two tall lads, Prabhas and Rana, were a feast to the eye and their performance, to the heart. The latter slightly dominates the former with his fiercy facial expressions and soothing Telugu diction.

Sneak Peek into Baahubali !

Ramya Krishna as the Rational Rajamatha personified the awesomeness that she is. Satyaraj, happens to be the key link all through out. What should I probably rant about the VFX exquisiteness? Every tiny detailing was appealing and well crafted, be it a long hidden forest, deadly snow storms or the truly amazing architecture of the royal abodes. Atleast coming from the land that housed many anti-gravity fight sequences in movies, I survived this. Pretty strong.

The war climax is probably the one of the best I have ever seen, considering I have seen many such Hollywood counterparts. The strategy, the sequential war progression is the USP, unlike the blood shed repeat mode and mobs swaying away amidst weapons. War was a tiny narration in itself. You will love those craved sculptures that are weapons in disguise. And, the Kalakeya language that was developed, reminds the thought that went into making this movie.

Well, the flick is not a blooper-free entirely, but those are not many. They dissolve in the magnanimity that the movie is. If there is anything that is below expected epicness, it’s the music. The background is decent, but could be more subtle at times. Ending couldn’t have been put any better, serves the tempo to crave for the sequel. All in all, this movie, if watched without too much of pessimism at head, is a delight to delight itself !

Numbers, watch these before I rate them a couple of stars. (In Telugu, This Infographic shows the mind-boggling statistics that went into this movie making)

This Infographic shows the mind-boggling statistics that went into this movie making. (Source – Eenadu Paper)

So, a decent 3.75 to 4.25 will peacefully do for this film. Btw fight piracy, this is a must watch in the theatre 🙂

For the dramatic conclusion you expect, here – Jai Mahishmati !

P.S. – We, at Ujwalandhra here, do not review movies, Na. But, this one is special, as the time has come for the Telugus to Assert their due position on the global arena.

Arts , Literature, Drama and Movies reflect how well advanced a society is. and this shows, how we as a civilization, move towards breaking the stereotypes of thoughts, words and action. On June 10th, two rockets took off from Andhra, one from ISRO’s base near Nellore, and another, Baahubali, across the theatres of world and it is moment of pride for all of us.